Should laser eye surgery be available on the NHS?

I would suggest that you look in youtube to see what is actually involved. 2 main methods of "flaps", traditional cutting and newer laser. The long term integrity of the flap is still up for debate despite the many years of follow up available when it first started.

And yes, i dont know of many ophthalmologists who have had it done, or subjected their family to it either. They all wear glasses/contacts.
 
frosty03 said:
And yes, i dont know of many ophthalmologists who have had it done, or subjected their family to it either. They all wear glasses/contacts.
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Strangely enough, people who sell glasses for a living don't want to promote something which could lose them business. Weird eh?

Yet when you go to a laser eye clinic, they've all had it done, you don't see a pair of glasses anywhere.

I had mine done about a month ago and it's truly amazing. You go in wearing glasses, the procedure takes about 30 seconds per eye, there's zero pain, then you walk out with perfect vision, fantastic.

I now have better than 20/20 vision and can read the smallest line on the eye chart quite easily. It's made a massive difference to my life, it's like I've never worn glasses, totally forgotten about them now.
 
Vixen said:
I don't think many people change their glasses once a year, so the initial assumption is flawed. Also, a lot of people wear contacts over glasses, which the NHS don't pay anything towards.
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Correct, I have had several pairs of glasses which have lasted many years ... I think the oldest was eight years old when I got it replaced and that was only because they were falling apart. Changes due to prescription changes, (as opposed to cosmetic or maintenance), should not be needed on an annual basis as your prescription should stay more stable than that.

M0T said:
Your logic is flawed, you assume that the NHS pays for glasses from the age of 15 to 80; this is only the case if they stay on certain benefits their whole life. For most people the NHS will help pay up to the age of 16 (or 19 in full time education) and then from 60+.

This means the cost per person is significantly less than laser eye surgery.
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Not strictly true. I am not on any form of benefits but the NHS contributes towards any glasses I am prescribed. This is because I have what is defined as a "complex" prescription and require extremely powerful and complex lenses, (even with my glasses I am on the verge of not being able to have good enough eyesight to drive). The NHS does not pay the full cost but I think last time they paid £100 towards the £400 cost.
 
I would personally NEVER get laser eye surgery - although the chance of being hit by a car on the way to the laser eye surgery place is probably higher than the chance of something going wrong in the surgery, I would rather not risk it.
 
Strangely enough, people who sell glasses for a living don't want to promote something which could lose them business. Weird eh?
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he said ophthalmologist not optician/optometrist. an ophthalmologist is an eye surgeon, and by your argument could be expected to want to show how good it is. I must admit I've never seen an ophthalmologist who has had it done either, but the risks to someone who relies on their vision for their job is a little higher than Joe public
 
I think it might be because it doesn't offer the precision and adaptability that glass do, and for such a job your eyesight being crystal is important.
 
Neoni said:
Nope, long term affects havent been discovered from eye surgery yet, and no private optician would really recommend it.
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Funny you say that, last time I went to get my eyes checked the optometrist (who works independently of the optician) said that laser eye surgery would be great for me. I dislike wearing glasses but having an astigmatism in one eye means I can't comfortably wear contacts for working (they don't always sit in exactly the right place).
Already had the checkup done at a laser surgery place and I'll be getting them blasted in the autumn before I have a month in Australia, and I can't wait.
 
bam0 said:
Funny you say that, last time I went to get my eyes checked the optometrist (who works independently of the optician) said that laser eye surgery would be great for me. I dislike wearing glasses but having an astigmatism in one eye means I can't comfortably wear contacts for working (they don't always sit in exactly the right place).
Already had the checkup done at a laser surgery place and I'll be getting them blasted in the autumn before I have a month in Australia, and I can't wait.
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Been to a few opticians and if your eyes are still growing, and even if there not they all said dont go for eye surgery.
 
Tefal said:
I think it might be because it doesn't offer the precision and adaptability that glass do, and for such a job your eyesight being crystal is important.
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The stronger your prescription the worse the effects of wearing glasses, because of the distance from your eyes and the shape they are you will get chromatic aberration through the lens the further you get from the centre point, the shifting of red and blue can be quite noticeable.
 
Yes I think It should, but I also think all drugs should be as well. If we cut the rubbish out of the NHS and went back to the 60's with the budget they have now, they could gold plate the wards.

Glasses also damage your eyes in the longterm. They actively make your eyes worse.
 
Neoni said:
Been to a few opticians and if your eyes are still growing, and even if there not they all said dont go for eye surgery.
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I guess it depends on who they work for, if the optometrist (who does the eye test) is directly working for the optician (who dispenses the glasses) they might have an interest in you continuing to use glasses, if they are independent it makes little difference as you are still recommended to have eye checkups anyway.
 
neoboy said:
Doesn't it reduce the eyes resistance to pressure changes or would that only affect you if you're a fighter jet pilot (which you won't be with laser surgery) at extreme Gs?
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Regulations have changed, certainly in the USAF, with the RAF soon to follow. They now accept people for [fighter] pilot training if they've had laser surgery.
 
I think it should be, but like others have said we wont know the long term affects for a while yet so we need to wait. If there is some negative side effect we dont want a society where many people develop problems, it's bad for them, and they will probably sue the hell out of the NHS and up go everyones taxes. I wear glasses and dont intend on getting surgery for a while yet.
 
No it definitely shouldn't be on the NHS. Neither should a lot of other things, such as cosmetic surgery, gender reassignment, and free treatment for smokers and alcoholics (subsidised maybe).
 
platypus said:
No it definitely shouldn't be on the NHS. Neither should a lot of other things, such as cosmetic surgery, gender reassignment, and free treatment for smokers and alcoholics (subsidised maybe).
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What cosmetic surgery and gender reassignment is totally different lazer eye surgery is a medical procedure not some cosmetic surgery. Once you've taken out profit I expect it's very cheap as well.

As for smokers more than pay there way. They put £8billion into the tax pot and that's after their cost on the NHS has been taken out.
 
Ricochet J said:
Laser eye surgery on the other hand costs around £500 (they all float around this price) with free aftercare.
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£500 for some, a girl in my office recently spent near on £3k on laser eye surgery.
Kinda makes you realise why there is a huge private business for this sort of work..
 
Despite the nay-sayers, quite a lot of opthalmologists have had the procedure done. Most are of the age where they require reading glasses though...Old buggers :p

*n
 
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